Note: To download/print the document, click on the
title below.
Psalms
105:23-45 Israel also
came into Egypt, And Jacob dwelt in the land of Ham. He increased His people
greatly, And made them stronger than their enemies. He turned their heart to
hate His people, To deal craftily with His servants. He sent Moses His servant,
And Aaron whom He had chosen.
They performed His signs among them, And wonders in the land of Ham. He sent
darkness, and made it dark; And
they did not rebel against His word. He turned their waters into blood, And
killed their fish. Their land abounded with frogs, Even in the chambers of their kings. He spoke, and there came
swarms of flies, And lice in
all their territory. He gave them hail for rain, And flaming fire in their land. He struck their vines also, and
their fig trees, And splintered the trees of their territory. He spoke, and
locusts came, Young locusts without number, And ate up all the vegetation in
their land, And devoured the fruit of their ground. He also destroyed all the
firstborn in their land, The first of all their strength. He also brought them
out with silver and gold, And there
was none feeble among His tribes. Egypt was glad when they departed, For
the fear of them had fallen upon them. He spread a cloud for a covering, And
fire to give light in the night. The
people asked, and He brought quail, And satisfied them with the bread of
heaven. He opened the rock, and water gushed out; It ran in the dry places like a river. For He remembered His
holy promise, And Abraham His
servant. He brought out His people with joy, His chosen ones with gladness. He
gave them the lands of the Gentiles, And they inherited the labor of the
nations, That they might observe His statutes And keep His laws. Praise the
LORD! (Have
you noticed how these Psalms fall right into place with the lessons? This is
unplanned on my part. It happened many times as we studied the Book of Romans
also.)
Father God
we praise you and give you thanks for all you do for us. Help us to believe
with our hearts and not our minds. Help us to accept the truth of your Word and
deny man’s doctrine. Let your Holy Words, the Bible, penetrate our hearts and
convict us of false beliefs so that we can come to You with an open and
contrite heart. In Jesus name we pray, Amen!
Revelation 9:1-12 NKJV
I’m
going to get right to the lesson this week. If you remember the last Revelation
lesson was on Chapter 8 and the first four trumpet judgments. They were; Revelation 8:7-12 The first angel sounded: And hail and fire
followed, mingled with blood, and they were thrown to the earth. And a third of
the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up. 8 Then the second angel sounded: And something like a great mountain
burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood.
9 And a third of the living creatures in the
sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. 10 Then the
third angel sounded: And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch,
and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. 11 The name
of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many men
died from the water, because it was made bitter. 12 Then the
fourth angel sounded: And a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon,
and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened. A third of the
day did not shine, and likewise the night.
That
lesson ended with an angel flying in the midst of the Heavens saying woe, woe,
woe. This angel is making a statement and that statement is there are three
more Trumpet Judgments and they are going to be worse than the first four. These
last three Trumpets takes the next few chapters to describe unlike the first
four Trumpets that only took six verses. So let’s see what the fifth Trumpet
Judgment is.
1 Then the
fifth angel sounded: And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. To him
was given the key to the bottomless pit.
And
I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth; Many times angels are referred to as stars and this is
the case here, but this star is of evil, one of great authority and leader over
his army of death and destruction. We know who this star is from the word John
used, “fallen” which represents, yes you guessed it, Satan. He was at one time
one of the four great angels of God, but because he became obsessed with his
beauty and rank, the sin of pride and greed set in, which was his demise and he
was cast out of Heaven. Isaiah
14:12-14 "How
you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground,
You who weakened the nations! 13 For you have said in your heart: 'I will ascend
into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on
the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; 14 I will
ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.'
Ezekiel tells us that
Satan was a beautiful angel at one time and actually was in the Garden of Eden,
which was on this earth at one time. In fact before his pride got the best of
him, he was one of God’s head angels. Ezekiel 28:11-19 Moreover
the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
12 "Son of man, take up a
lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, 'Thus says the Lord GOD:
"You were the seal of
perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 13 You were
in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, Beryl, onyx,
and jasper, Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your
timbrels and pipes Was prepared for you on the day you were created. 14 "You were the anointed cherub who covers;
I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and
forth in the midst of fiery stones. 15 You were
perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in
you. 16
"By the abundance of your trading You became filled with violence within,
And you sinned; Therefore I cast you as a profane thing Out of the mountain of
God; And I destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the fiery
stones. 17
"Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your
wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you
before kings, That they might gaze at you.
18 "You defiled your sanctuaries By
the multitude of your iniquities, By the iniquity of your trading; Therefore I
brought fire from your midst; It devoured you, And I turned you to ashes upon
the earth In the sight of all who saw you.
19 All who knew you among the peoples
are astonished at you; You have become a horror, And shall be no more forever."
To
him was given the key to the bottomless pit; From this phrase we see a chamber in the nether world
that contains evil, and has never been allowed access to this earth. God holds
the key to the bottomless pit and has control of all things. This is the way it
is with us, if we will submit our life to Jesus and give the Holy Spirit the
steering wheel, Jesus will guide us in all that we do.
This key, was handed to
Satan, who handed it to him we aren’t told. Was it Jesus, the keeper of the key
or was it an angel that took it from Jesus and gave it to Satan?
2 And he
opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a
great furnace. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the
pit.
This verse tells me that
Hell is an awful place. A pit is a hole in the ground (Exodus_21:33, Exodus_21:34),
a cistern for water (Genesis_37:24; Jeremiah_14:3), a vault (Jeremiah_41:9), a grave (Psalm_30:3). It is used as a figure for mischief
(Psalm_9:15), and is the name given to
the unseen place of woe (Revelation_20:1,
Revelation_20:3). The slime-pits in the
vale of Siddim were wells which yielded asphalt (Genesis_14:10).
A pit represents darkness, no light. The only light in the bottomless pit is
from the eternal fire that blazes there. Smoke of a great furnace tells me it
is hot, sweaty, stuffy, and miserable. It is a place that you cannot escape the
elements of the pit. Just to put it into perspective in a minuscule way, take a
day time temperature of 120 degrees with 99% humidity 24/7 forever without air
conditioning to get any relief. Breathing would be difficult, you would be
sleep deprived, you would constantly be thirsty, you would become weak and not
want to do anything, you would become grumpy, antagonistic, unsociable, etc. I
don’t know about you, but it is a place I don’t want anything to do with. I’m
so glad Jesus revealed Himself to me and I turned my back on the things of the
world, mans religion, my self-righteousness of thinking I was a good person,
and what man would think of me by forsaking my life, and placing my faith in
the finished works of the Cross. In doing so I became a member of the Church of
Jesus and not man’s church.
So
the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit; Remember these events are to take
place in the old Roman Empire and it is in this area the sun and air will be
darkened the most when the pit is opened. For the sun and air to be darkened,
it will be a vast amount of smoke, and how will this happen, we don’t really
know. With the amount of ash and smoke spewed into the air from a volcano, I
would surmise the earth will have an eruption.
3 Then out
of the smoke locusts came upon the earth. And to them was given power, as the
scorpions of the earth have power.
Then
out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth; So these clouds contain millions of locust. I would
assume, not that scripture states this, but these locust would also cause a
darkening of the sky.
And
to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power; Normally we think of locust as plant
eating insects with a ravenous appetite that devastates crops, but these locusts
are much different and will have extraordinary power that will be like
scorpions of present day earth, that inflict pain upon victims they come in
contact with. Deuteronomy_28:38, Deuteronomy _28:42; Psalm_78:46;
Amos_7:1
4 They were
commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree,
but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.
As stated in the previous
verse these are non-typical locust and are given a command, of course by God
not to harm the vegetation of the earth. This command also tells us they have
some intelligence in order to carry out this command and to only hurt mankind
that does not have the seal of God. So they will be able to tell who is a child
of God and who isn’t. These locusts are from the Spiritual world, so they will
be able to see the seal of God on the forehead of His saints.
5 And they
were not given authority to
kill them, but to torment them for
five months. Their torment was
like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man.
6 In those
days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and
death will flee from them.
Women don’t think you will
be immune to the attack of these locust, because “in those days men”, refers to mankind, male and female. I looked
up the effects of a scorpion sting and what I found makes a bee sting look like
a mosquito bite.
The sting of the scorpion,
is not always fatal; the outcome of their venom being in proportion to their
size, and the size and reaction of their victim. When the scorpion has stung,
the place becomes inflamed and hardened, it reddens, is painful by intervals, causing
fluctuation from chills to burning and back again. The pain rises high and
rages, sometimes more sometimes less. A sweating succeeds, attended by a
shivering and trembling, the extremities of the body become cold, the groin
swells, the hair stands on end, the extremities become pale, and the skin feels
throughout the sensation of a perpetual pricking, as if by needles.
This torment is to go on
for five months. We don’t know if one sting will have the effect for five
months or repeated stings during this five month period. The pain will be so
intense, five months will seem like eternity and whoever is inflicted by a sting,
will want to die to escape the suffering, but will not be able to. I would
venture to say that modern day manmade medicines will be of no use to relieve
the pain and suffering. The only cure will be the life giving blood of Jesus
Christ. It will be a most terrible time for those that reject God. Go to Joel
Chapter 2 for a
little different description of this event. So why not kill the people you ask?
Verses 20 & 21tells us why, God is giving people a chance to repent and ask
Jesus into their life? God doesn’t want to see anyone go to Hell for eternity.
If the locusts cause death, then these people will go to Hell. Revelation 9:20-21 But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by
these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not
worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. 21 And they
did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality
or their thefts.
7 The shape
of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were crowns
of something like gold, and their faces were
like the faces of men.
8 They had
hair like women's hair, and their teeth were like lions' teeth.
9 And they
had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with
many horses running into battle.
10 They had tails like scorpions, and there were
stings in their tails. Their power was
to hurt men five months.
These four verses give us
a description of these locusts. Remember where these creatures come from, the
bottomless pit. They are bizarrely looking creatures from the spiritual world.
All things were and are created by God, so we know they are God’s creation, but
why do they reside in the bottomless pit? When they were created were they put
in the bottomless pit then? Some say they were angels/stars and when Lucifer
fell from Heaven they also were cast to the earth/pit. Did they always have
this shape? Being from the spiritual world will they be seen by humans? I don’t
have answers to these questions nor does anyone else. There is a lot of
speculation by commentaries on these verses.
These creatures, if seen,
will not be pleasant to look at if people are able to see them. They will be
frightful because we have no creatures on earth of such nature. They are from
Satan’s world with a demonic nature and oppose God’s world. They are as war
horses with breastplates, coming to battle; crowns on their heads, as if
superior; faces of men to defy Gods creation, man in His likeness; hair like
women, meaning long hair to defy God’s ordinance (1 Corinthians 11:14 Does not
even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to
him?); lions teeth to
place fear in the hearts of man; wings for swiftness in battle; and scorpion
tails to sting and inflict great pain on the unsaved. Some say these locusts
will be invisible, I believe these creatures will be seen by mankind, otherwise
why would such a great detailed description be given, but this is my opinion.
So does this raise a
question in your mind as to why these creatures would inflict pain on the
unsaved when normally Satan and his band of followers attack God’s children?
Remember God is in control of all things and He allows things to happen to the
unsaved in hopes of them coming to their senses, and turning to Jesus His Son,
that He sent to earth so mankind could accept as their Saviour if they so
desire. God calls and attempts to draw people to Him in many different ways,
but usually people are blind to His calling and recognize it as the way of
life.
11 And they had as king over them the angel of the
bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is
Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon.
Even though the locusts
had a leader, God still controls what they can and cannot do just like Satan
could only do certain things to Job. Job Chapters 1 & 2.
This angel is one of four
that is mentioned in scripture. He is a powerful angel; he and his followers
threw in with Lucifer in the great rebellion against God. The four angel
recorded in scripture are, Gabriel, Michael, Lucifer, and Apollyon, the first two
being Righteous.
12 One woe is past. Behold, still two more woes are
coming after these things.
One of the three woes are
past and behold calls our attention to the two remaining which are more intense
than the first. Behold; to fix the eyes upon; to see with attention; to observe
with care.
Colossians 1:16 For by Him all things were created
that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether
thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All things were created through Him
and for Him.
Romans
3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans
6:23 For the wages of sin is
death, but the gift of God is
eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
John
3:3
Jesus answered and said to him, Most assuredly, I say
to you,
unless
one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
Bill
Wiesbrock https://www.facebook.com/bill.wiesbrock?ref=tn_tnmn
Sinners Prayer; Pray this, and if you
believe it with your heart, Jesus will save you!
“Lord
Jesus I know I am a sinner. I confess my
sins to you; I am sorry for my sins; I repent (Meaning, desiring to turn from a
sinful lifestyle.) of all my sins, and I am asking for your forgiveness of all
of my sins. I believe that only you can
forgive sin. I commit my life to you and
ask you to come into my heart, direct, and take charge of my life. I believe that you died to set me free from my
sinful lifestyle and you rose from the dead to give me eternal life, and right
now you are seated at the Right Hand of God Almighty. I believe you are the Son
of God; the only Way, the only Truth, the only Life, and my Savior.” I believe this and have faith you will make a
new person out of me, by sending the Holy Spirit to dwell in my heart and lead
me in a new life. In Jesus name I pray Amen.”
(John 3:16,17; Romans 3:23; 6:23; 5:8; 10:9-13; Ephesians 2:8-10; 1
John 5:11-14; 1:6-10) (Sin: Rom.
1:22-32; Gal. 5:19-21; Eph. 5:3-7)
